Far East Organization sells Bukit Timah freehold site to Aurum Land for S$66M
Far East Organization, controlled by Singapore's third-richest billionaires, has sold a freehold site at 134 Watten Estate Road for S$66 million, or about S$2,266 psf. The buyer is boutique developer Aurum Land, a subsidiary of Woh Hup Group.
SINGAPORE – Far East Organization, the property group controlled by brothers Philip and Robert Ng, has sold a prime freehold residential site at 134 Watten Estate Road in the Bukit Timah enclave for S$66 million (US$50.6 million).
The price works out to about S$2,266 per square foot (US$19,217 per square metre) for the 37,155 sq ft (3,452 sq m) site, which comprises two plots of about 32,953 sq ft and 4,202 sq ft respectively, The Business Times reported, citing a caveat lodged in late August.
The land is zoned for mixed-landed housing and currently occupied by a three-storey walk-up apartment complex developed in the 1970s by Lucky Realty Company, a Far East subsidiary. Far East has held the property since then and rented out the units; an agent listing in May advertised a three-bedroom apartment of 2,406 sq ft for S$7,600 a month.
The Ng family has longstanding ties to Watten Estate, having developed the neighbourhood in 1969. The buyer is boutique developer Aurum Land, a wholly owned subsidiary of Woh Hup Group, one of Singapore's largest privately held construction and civil engineering firms.
The site could be redeveloped into a mix of detached houses and other landed homes. Jessica Lim of Realstar Premier Group, who represented Far East in the deal, said the new homes could fetch more than S$5,000 per square foot, based on several recent landed-property transactions in the surrounding area, according to EdgeProp Singapore.
Far East is controlled by Philip and Robert Ng, whom Forbes ranked third among Singapore's richest people earlier this month with a combined net worth of US$14.3 billion. The group was founded in 1960 by their late father, Ng Teng Fong, who moved from China to Singapore and later earned the moniker "King of Orchard Road" for developing malls such as Far East Plaza and Lucky Plaza. Philip oversees the group's Singapore operations.
